Catch up on Gopher women's hockey in the news this week. After the Gophers defeated Minnesota Duluth and North Dakota en route to the 2014 WCHA Final Face-off title last weekend, Minnesota's 2012-13 national championship team had the opportunity to visit the White House and meet President Obama on Monday. The Gophers have spent the rest of the week preparing for Saturday's NCAA quarterfinal game against Boston University. In addition, Noora Raty signed a contract with a professional men's hockey team in Finland this week.

The University of Minnesota women's hockey team is capping off its perfect 2012-13 season with an invitation to meet United States President Barack Obama at the White House today. The White House is scheduled to live stream the visit, which features several other 2012-13 NCAA Division I men's and women's championship teams as well. The live stream is set to begin at 4 p.m. CT Monday.

Catch up on Gopher women's hockey in the news following Minnesota's back-to-back 6-0 wins over Minnesota Duluth to close out the regular season. The Gophers host St. Cloud State in a best-of-three series for the WCHA first round this weekend.

The Big Ten Conference was well-represented at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games as 18 current and former Big Ten student-athletes, coaches and university students earned 20 Olympic medals in Sochi, Russia. The conference brought home medals in both men's and women's ice hockey, bobsled and ice dancing, including five gold, 11 silver and four bronze.

The Big Ten broke down how the 20 medals were awarded, including seven current and former Golden Gopher women's hockey players accounting for five silver medals:

Minnesota led all schools with five participants and one coach medaling, while participants from Michigan and Wisconsin took home five medals each. In addition, Illinois, Michigan State, Nebraska and Ohio State saw their Olympic competitors bring home medals.

The Big Ten was well represented in the women's ice hockey final, as the United States challenged Canada in the gold-medal game. The Canadians came out on top, 3-2, in an overtime contest for the gold behind the play of former Ohio State forward Natalie Spooner and former Wisconsin defenseman Meaghan Mikkelson. Fellow Badgers Brianna Decker, Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight and Jessie Vetter and former Gophers Megan Bozek, Gigi Marvin and Anne Schleper took home the silver skating for the United States. Current student-athletes Amanda Kessel and Lee Stecklein and assistant coach Robb Stauber, all from Minnesota, also earned silver as members of Team USA.

On the men's side, two Big Ten representatives took part in the final, with Canada defeating Sweden, 3-0. Former Michigan State student-athlete Duncan Keith helped Team Canada to the gold medal, while former Michigan standout Carl Hagelin took home the silver skating for Sweden.

In ice dancing, Meryl Davis and Charlie White added four medals to the Wolverines' lot. The pair became the first American ice dancing duo to capture Olympic gold. They also helped Team USA to a bronze medal in the inaugural team figure skating competition.

Former Illinois track and field athlete Aja Evans and Nebraska football player Curtis Tomasevicz each earned bronze medals in bobsled. Evans placed third in the USA-2 sled, helping Team USA to two medals in women's bobsledding for the first time. Tomasevicz was part of the USA-1 team that snagged the bronze medal in four-man bobsled with a time of 3:40.99, beating Russia-2 by 0.03 seconds.

Big Ten student-athletes and coaches have been a part of the Olympic experience on more than 1,370 occasions, including many taking multiple trips to the international event. That list of conference standouts has accumulated at least 480 medals, including 248 gold.

The Gopher women's hockey team secured its eighth WCHA regular-season championship with a 3-2 win at Wisconsin on Feb. 14, 2014. Minnesota received the WCHA trophy before a 6-0 win over UMD on Feb. 21, 2014. Catch up on some of the reactions to the Gophers' championship!

Let's Play Hockey newspaper announced that future Golden Gopher Sydney Baldwin, a senior defenseman on the Minnetonka High School girls' hockey team, was named the winner of the 19th annual Ms. Hockey Award today at the annual Ms. Hockey Awards Banquet. The award, presented to the top girls' high school hockey player in Minnesota, is based on the following criteria: academics, community/extracurricular activities, citizenship, coachability and, of course, on-ice performance.

The career leading scorer for defensemen at Minnetonka, Baldwin becomes the first blueliner to be named Ms. Hockey since South St. Paul's Ashley Albrecht in 2002. Averaging over 30 minutes per game this season, Baldwin owned totals of 12-19--31 and helped Minnetonka to an unprecedented three consecutive state championships during her career. She captained the Skippers to the No. 5 ranking in Class AA this season to go along with a 19-6-2 overall record.

Baldwin had points in 19 of her 27 games this season, including nine multi-point contests. She was a three-time all-conference and all-state honoree for the Skippers. Baldwin was also a member of the silver medal-winning U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team at the 2013 IIHF World U18 Championship and will represent Team USA again this March.

Baldwin is set to continue her hockey career with the Gophers and will join Minnesota for the 2014-15 season.

"Sydney Baldwin is like Bobby Orr," Minnetonka head coach Eric Johnson said. "She's the best defensive and offensive player on the ice and the most humble, team-first player off the ice. Syd is the best all-around skater we have ever seen at Minnetonka. She's smooth, fast and strong, while making it look effortless as she glides by opponents. Her puck-handling, passing and shot are even more impressive than her skating ability."

Away from hockey, Baldwin owns a 3.45 GPA and volunteers her time with the DinoMights Inner City Youth Hockey Program. She has also served as a Big Sister with Minnetonka youth hockey teams. In addition to hockey, Baldwin was a two-time member of the Skipper tennis team, captaining the squad to a second-place finish in the 2012 state tournament.

"Sydney is a giver," Johnson said. "She has volunteered over 100 hours in the Minnetonka Youth Hockey Association, attending youth girls' practices, games, study halls and pizza parties. She cares about the kids and about being a good role model. In addition to her academic and athletic commitments, she works four part-time jobs throughout the year. She understands that success is earned through hard work and expects nothing to be given to her."

Two other future Gophers were among the finalists for Ms. Hockey in Kelly Pannek of Benilde-St. Margaret's and Nina Rodgers of Hopkins. Sam Donovan of Irondale and Nicole Schammel of Red Wing rounded out the top five finalists.

The 19th annual award, selected based on votes from a panel of high school coaches and Division I and III college coaches from Minnesota and Wisconsin, is sponsored by Let's Play Hockey, the Minnesota Wild and Shakopee Chevrolet.